Happy Birthday Indiana Jones! (1 Viewer)

This maybe the wrong place for this so feel free to move this thread as needed. Raiders of the Lost Ark was released 30 year ago today. Some talk about the influence of Star Wars on modern cinema, but I think the Raiders films have had a bigger impact both visually and in story structure and pacing than almost any other films made in the last 50 years. Happy Birthday Indiana Jones. The first 30 years! Doug

So wheres the 30th anniversary blu-ray box set from Paramount ?


Still hoping we'll get this sometime this year.

Simon,


Don't expect the anniversary boxed set until next year.


Lucas releasing STAR WARS to Blu-ray would severely

undercut an Indiana Jones release.



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Originally Posted by Simon Lewis

So wheres the 30th anniversary blu-ray box set from Paramount ?


Still hoping we'll get this sometime this year.

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It has been discussed in various forums that the studios want to spread big releases out over time. And with Star Wars coming out in September the studios don't want to interfere with that. Star Wars is supposed to be the only game in town until next year, at least that's the way I read it. It may make business sense for them to spread the big titles out but to me it just seems silly. Ben-Hur comes out around the same time as Star Wars and I plan on purchasing both.

Happy Birthday! Raiders of the Lost Ark is still my favorite film of all time. Such a great movie.

Originally Posted by Douglas Monce

Some talk about the influence of Star Wars on modern cinema, but I think the Raiders films have had a bigger impact both visually and in story structure and pacing than almost any other films made in the last 50 years.

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Raiders is my favourite movie, but I don't know that it was all that groundbreaking. In structure and pace, it's basically an Americanized Bond movie with supernatural elements.

There was at least one story I recently read about, how to
this day, Tom Selleck still deeply regrets having to turn
down the role of Indiana Jones.


Perhaps this is a good thing. I just cannot see Tom
Selleck capturing that role in the way Harrison Ford did.



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Ronald Epstein said:

Perhaps this is a good thing. I just cannot see Tom
Selleck capturing that role in the way Harrison Ford did.

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Yeah, I think it's fair to say that Raiders would have still been fun, exciting and successful with Tom Selleck as Indy but Harrison Ford's charisma and performance made a wonderful movie even better.

On June 12, 1981, I graduated from elementary school. But before I did that, I attended the first show of Raiders in the afternoon.

Ask me which one I remember more.

Which one do you remember more?

Originally Posted by cafink

Which one do you remember more?

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The movie!

obsessively waiting, 30 years, my god where has the time gone, when did i get so old, 30 is a good number actually, was there opening night for 2 shows, and for the next 29 nights as well, after the 3rd day my girlfriend at the time started to complain, wonder what ever happened to her?, happy birthday Dr. Jones.

I got the chance to see this at a sneak preview a week or two before it opened. I remember that the theater was busy but that there were also quite a few empty seats which I thought was odd considering the pedigree behind the film (although Spielberg was coming off of 1941). Two things that I can definitely still remember from 30 years ago- the audible gasps when Indy turns around to see the boulder bearing down on him, and wondering how in the hell he was going to get out of being stuck on the front grill of that truck.

It's funny, but as enormously entertaining as the film was, that spring I was consumed with anticipation for Superman II. SII eventually turned out to be a big disappointment to me- though it took all summer for me to finally admit it to myself. So my true appreciation for just how great Raiders was , was a bit delayed.


Although there were other pop films from that whole era that had a bigger, more immediate, or more sustained impact- looking back Raiders is probably the overall strongest film to come out of that period. It is so tight, so perfectly crafted that it makes it look effortless. It's lightning in a bottle and none of the sequels, or endless imitations, come anywhere close imo.


Would have loved to have been able to celebrate the anniversary with a good Bd screening, but I'll have to settle for a decent DVD one instead.

What would have really made it special for me though would have been able to chase it with a Bd of Outland- that was the feature in the theater the sneak was in so after Raiders I got the chance to stay over and see that as well. Fun times.

Originally Posted by Paul_Scott

It's funny, but as enormously entertaining as the film was, that spring I was consumed with anticipation for Superman II. SII eventually turned out to be a big disappointment to me- though it took all summer for me to finally admit it to myself. So my true appreciation for just how great Raiders was , was a bit delayed.

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I had the exact same reaction to the film. I didn't know much about Raiders, except that it was made by the Star Wars and Close Encounters guys. I was much more interested in Superman II, For Your Eyes Only and Clash of the Titans. I saw both Raiders and Clash on the same weekend and was hugely disappointed in Clash while Raiders left me kind of stunned. It wasn't until later in the summer that it grew on me and I went to see it a second time and just kept coming back every week.

I must have been 8 but I vividly remember sitting in that dark theater in Boston completely entranced at what I was watching. Right when you first see Indy's face I remember saying "That's Han Solo!?!" I never did finish my popcorn & soda....

I saw this on opening weekend at the Shadeland Drive-In in Indianapolis. I was 5 1/2 and it was the summer before I started Kindergarten. My family thought it was so cool that the character was named "Indiana." We thought it was a great homage to our state! At my age, I thought he was a Hoosier, like me!

Worth said:

Raiders is my favourite movie, but I don't know that it was all that groundbreaking. In structure and pace, it's basically an Americanized Bond movie with supernatural elements.

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Bond was surely an inspiration for Raiders, but so were the serials of the 30s and 40s, along with the adventure films of the 50's. When the whole thing is put together, Raiders really is its own beast. Think of all the films that have emulated it. Right off the bat you had two TV shows that directly copied its visual style and color palette. Comic book films from the 80s The Shadow and The Phantom both borrow their look both photographically and production design from the Indy films, not to mention plot structure. Stargate a sci-fi film that you might think would have more in common with Star Wars, again heavily influenced by Indiana Jones. The Mummy, which is ostensibly a horror movie, transmuted into an adventure film directly copying the style of Raiders. Not to mention that Raiders is the film by which all modern action movies are compared even 30 years later. Beyond the movies, The Jungle Cruse was transformed from looking like The African Queen, to looking a bit more used and beat up directly because of Raiders. (of course the Indiana Jones Adventure was going in next door) Banana Republic's original safari themed offerings became hugely popular because of Indiana Jones. As they expanded into retail stores, the decoration and atmosphere were defiantly Indiana Jones country. Then there is The Rain Forest Cafe. I could go on and on. Doug

Originally Posted by Douglas Monce

Right off the bat you had two TV shows that directly copied its visual style and color palette.

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Which shows do you mean?

cafink said:

Which shows do you mean?

 

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Tales of the Gold Monkey and Bring Em Back Alive. Doug

I remember LFL saying these would be out in 2009. Still waiting.